


White Board

by Samuraiter



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 21:24:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5943583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samuraiter/pseuds/Samuraiter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Several years after Dancing All Night, Rise comes to visit Naoto at her office.</p>
            </blockquote>





	White Board

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xenoglossy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenoglossy/gifts).



> Post-canon. Contains a handful of little assumptions about things to come.

Naoto had ten different dry erase markers, each of them a different color, and the chart she had been drawing on the white board in her office had started to resemble a long physics equation done up in rainbows. She had been attempting to get to the bottom of her most recent case for months, but she had encountered one dead end after another, one false lead after another. It seemed like every account had too many details wrong, every possible clue had the ring of being a plant. Her quarry had managed to stay one step ahead of her at every turn – a circumstance she had not encountered for years.

A light appeared on her desk phone. _Rise_. Naoto hit the button to open the security door downstairs, listening to her footsteps as they came up the stairs. Not long ago, neither of them had been able to speak to each other in more than passing, thanks to their respective careers, but Rise had recently concluded her last tour as Risette, and she had made a point of staying in contact. Naoto had never questioned that. After all, she still traded texts and e-mails with the other former members of the Investigation Team on a regular basis. Why should she have treated Rise any differently?

A soft knock at her office door, followed by a quick "Hey" as Rise came into the room. She had her hair down, as had become her habit. Make-up and perfume, too. Naoto thought of telling her that she had no need of those blandishments if she was only coming to see her, but she discarded the thought, her brain still sifting through the details of the case, though she did nod to Rise upon seeing her, holding up one finger to let her know that she needed to finish following her train of thought before they got to sitting down and talking. Dead end or not, she still had to wrap it up and tie it off.

That done, she said, her voice soft as she replaced the caps on her markers, "Sorry. Hello. This one has been eating at me." A half-smile, mostly for herself. "I like a challenge, but there comes a point when it stops being fun, especially when you start having to deal with things like embezzlement, shell companies, tax evasion, and –" She shook her head. "Never mind that. How have you been?" Not that Rise could not follow her on those explanations. She could. But Naoto had made a point of to keep her business from mixing itself too thoroughly into interactions with people outside of it.

"I've been me," Rise replied, setting her purse down in one of the plush chairs that Naoto used to make her clients feel comfortable, "and I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, too, just not about corporate espionage. I've got enough money saved up to go to university. I'm just not sure what I want to study yet. Too many things that interest me." She still had a full smile, sunny and genuine, though Naoto knew full well that she could conceal things equally as well as any poker-faced consulting detective. "That's not what I'm here for, though. Thought you could use a little encouragement on this project."

"Which I appreciate," Naoto admitted, "though I think you will want to stay far away from this one." She looked up at her white board, gray eyes tracing one of the red lines connecting a ninety-year-old CEO to a pseudonym for a national security official who may or may not have existed at all in the first place. "It reads like the plot of a bad TV drama." Rise faked a pout. "Nothing against any of your roles. I like to think you picked the better ones." A soft chuckle. "Surprised that you are not going to continue acting, honestly. It seemed like you really enjoyed doing that, especially the movies."

"Like you said," Rise replied, "I like a challenge, but there's a point where it stops being fun, and I'm pretty sure I hit that. I can only live in a fishbowl for so long before I want the open sea, you know?" She allowed herself a quick _hmph_. "Says the girl who used to work at her grandmother's tofu shop. Singing, dancing, acting – I think I'm ready to just sit at a desk and read. And take notes. Don't think I won't." Self-deprecating, as always, unafraid to tease herself, but whip-smart, nonetheless. Naoto smiled in spite of herself. "I'll use loopy letters and brightly-colored ink, though, if it makes you feel any better."

"It does, believe it or not," Naoto said, "because I know you can keep your thoughts organized without it looking that way." She raised a brow. "You would have a gift for deception if you were not so honest about some things, but, then, they say acting is equal parts lying and truth-telling." She turned back to the white board for a second. "My job is not that different, I suppose, but detectives are more about half-truths and omissions, whether it means finding them in others or using them ourselves." Rise had a peculiar look on her face. "Hmm? What is it? Am I rambling on and on again?"

"No," Rise said, walking up to stand directly in front of Naoto, so close that Naoto could almost pick out the individual aromas in her perfume, "you never ramble. You never waste words at all. But I don't think you're as good as picking things out about people as you think you are." Naoto blinked. "I mean, you know how to pick apart clients, witnesses, criminals, everything like that, but you don't usually turn those skills on your friends, do you?" And Naoto nodded slowly. "You'd probably think that was unethical. And I guess it might be. But what if I _wanted_ you to find out one of my secrets?"

"I like to think –" Naoto found herself blushing, flustered. Unusual. "– that, if there were something you wanted me to know, you would just _tell_ me. You know I am not good at picking up on –" Hard to continue speaking, since Rise had to decided to occupy her mouth by kissing her. Naoto stiffened for only a second before relaxing into it. Rise had flavored lipstick, and the inside of her mouth tasted like one of those cherry candies she liked to pick up at one of the stands in Okina City. _So long ago_. Naoto kissed her back, resting her hands on the small of her back, noticing how the quiet the office seemed.

"No, that's never been one of your strong points," Rise softly chided after separating from her, "but you're learning. I'm just letting you know that you can learn with me instead of figuring it all out on your own." She had always been beautiful, but Naoto had never seen her ... so close, her eyes bright, lips visibly moist. Vulnerable. "We're both busy people, but that doesn't mean we can't learn how to make time for each other. I think you understand that better than just about anybody else I know." She hugged Naoto, and the detective felt herself more or less melting into that embrace.

"Then help me keep understanding," Naoto whispered into her ear, "and you can count on me to be there. All right?" Rise nodded, and they stood like that for a long while, the white board almost towering above them, its circles and arrows all but forgotten in the face of a new development that had nothing at all to do with the case.

**END**.


End file.
